9 - 21 - 08

I've finally moved into a place after months of searching, putting myself out there, getting frustrated, let down, and sometimes even taking it personally. My new housemates are nice and sane, as far as I can tell. Except for the cat who is afraid of almost everything and everyone. I am telling myself I made a good decision moving in by focusing on the fact that there is an enormous amount of potential in the space itself. And I like the neighborhood. Within range of Article Pract, Knit-one-one, Berkeley Bowl, and many other things I haven't checked out yet but am very much looking forward to.
I am also not sleeping on anyone's couch, trying to remember where my stuff is, or spending $7 a day on Bart fare.

The other (almost even more) exciting news is that I won five ribbons at the Lake County Fair! 2 blue and 1 red for knit items and 1 white for crochet (my first real crochet project ever, I might add) and a white ribbon for the shoes I made in May at Peters Valley. Here are some pics my mom went and took:

The red sweater and the red lace shawl were my blue ribbon items. The sweater was my own adaptation of 28 thirty. By that I mean I started it at the top using the pattern but I didn't get gauge with the yarn and needle size I wanted to use so I made it up for the rest of the way down, adding length and waist shaping. I used Cascade 220 Quattro. The shawl is the Diamond Fantasy by Sivia Harding. I did the smaller version using Shaefer Anne.

Another shot of the sweater.

Giant granny square with white ribbon.

Cheese on a stick stand.

Mystery fowl.

Best in show by Sue Wilson!

I guess I'll be able to get back to knitting. I haven't been doing much, partly because I've been living like a transient with most of my stuff 140 miles away, and partly because my creative projects have been more jewelry oriented lately.

Oh yeah! The same day I found out about the new house and the ribbons I went to a Vietnamese fusion restaurant on 3rd and Folsom called Bong Su and had one of the best meals ever. By best ever I mean I was very close to tears through most of the evening. The fact that I was dining with 2 of my oldest and dearest friends and their families (for the first time in AGES) made the whole experience even more wonderful. It was May Ying's birthday and the manager there is a family friend of hers from infancy who gave us the royal treatment - down to selecting all of our dishes based on a couple of vague requests and doing wine pairings for each course. It made us forget our meal that we had two nights earlier at the Chez Panisse cafe.

One year!

Yesterday was Bastille Day again, which means this blog is one year old! I'll celebrate by posting some of those pictures I promised.

On May 3, I took a chartered bus from midtown Manhattan to West Friendship, Maryland for the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. It was gigantic. I highly recommend this event to anyone into this sort of thing. The landscape was so breathtakingly beautiful that I wept as our bus was pulling up to the fairground. Really.

herding dog demonstration

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Just a few of the many cute animals.

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Ravelry meetup. The pink bandana in the foreground is tied around the head of Pam a.k.a lickmysticks - Bad ass webring master.

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Sleeve I made on the bus ride home.

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I stayed in NYC for about a week and a half.

Dana on Williamsburg Bridge.

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Me on same bridge.

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Garage sale. Dana said "dude, those look so good you have to buy them". So I did. I think I look just like Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

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Green tea Kit Kat from Japan

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Carl Hiaasen at Barnes and Noble Union Square.

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Dinner at Les Halles Park Avenue with Alex.

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Alex and her daughter Maven. Aren't they precious?

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A french fry place I should have eaten at on 2nd Avenue.

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Beverly Road subway station in Brooklyn.

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A mural in Williamsburg illustrating the dangers of smoking.

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Junk yard of cab parts behind Dana's.

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I got most of the yarn for this Inga Hat at a store called Knit New York on E 14th Street and 2nd Avenue. The blue and the green are some Auracania handpaint stuff they had on sale. The red stripe is a Malabrigo that I got in Philadelphia at Sophie's Yarns on fabric row. I went to two other yarn shops in New York. One was The Point. The other, and my favorite by far, was Purl Soho. It had the nicest selection, best light, and friendliest staff.

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I spent about five days in Philadelphia. Ori and I spent the first (incredibly rainy) day at the Franklin Institute. We saw an Imax movie about the space station. Unfortunately it was narrated by Tom Cruise. We also went to the Planetarium.

Here I am on the Sky Bike. Wheee!

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One of those cemetaries that's so old that the headstones are worn away.

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Something Ori found in a dumpster and hung on his wall. His Philly friends think he's a dork for hanging it up. I think it's cool.

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Trying to sneak up on Shani and Barrett. Another precious pair. My old friends are making beautiful kids.

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Some really nice shears I got on fabric row for my shoe class at Peters Valley.

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Shoe class.

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The necklace I made for Dana to thank her for letting me stay at her house for a week.

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For the record, this post took 3 hours. Happy Birthday Lydia Wrench and Rik Giannola (again!)

July 11

The fact that I haven't been posting on here with any regularity has been bugging me, but I haven't had a streaming internal monologue worth writing down. It has just been mostly snippets lately, which I forget soon after they come to me or I find scribbled on bits of paper in the bottom of my bag. A great deal of my time lately has been spent on a frustrating search for a room for rent in either Berkeley or Oakland. It's a really annoying thing to try to do from 140 miles away so I keep going back and forth between there and Kelseyville. I am so tired of sending out emails that all say different versions of the exact same thing to get responses from maybe one in seven. Every time I check my email I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall.

Some things that I've found enjoyable lately are:

My recent crochet project which is a gigantic (over 5' x 5' so far) granny square of a zillion colors. It's beautiful. I will post many photos when it's done (yeah , I know, I said that about my vacation too. pppppbbbbtht!)

Going to the library.

Going with my friend Scotty to quad rugby (a.k.a. murderball).

The farmer's market by the Ferry Building.

Crisp, foggy breezes.

Happy birthday Donovan Drummond! And Elias Welsh (I think) and Garrett Buss (tomorrow).

And congratulations Josh! I hope to meet little Sequoia Holly Boyer some day and that her tiny hat fits her still by the time she gets it.

My dear friend Kelly's beautiful wife Andrea died on July 5. She had inflammatory breast cancer. She was 37. I got to meet her on my recent visit to Philadelphia. She was warm and radiant and lovely and an incredible mother of six. I felt honored to be welcomed into her home, and I wish I could have spent more time with her. She and her family have a blog here.

Happy birthday

George!
And Angela Biondilillo, wherever you are.
And Matt Sciacca. Sorry.

Some things I like in NY (a very incomplete list)

I'm just going to pretend it didn't take me forever to post this...

1. Looking at everyone's shoes.
2. Trying to figure out what languages people are speaking.
3. Making up stories in my head about the people I see on the subway. It's especially interesting when I get to look over their shoulder at what they're writing in their journal or the notations they're making on a court transcript.
4. Certain things are still really cheap, like hot dogs, Indian food, umbrellas, sunglasses, books.
5. I can usually run into my friend Christine there, maybe even at a cool gallery show with her stuff in it.
6. Strand Bookstore.
7. People in NY are generally nicer to strangers than they are in SF.
8. There are some amazing musicians playing on subway platforms.
9. Veniero's pastry shop.
10. My favorite jewelry store, C'est Magnifique
11. Things I overhear, such as "Rae? Do you want chopped liver on a cinnamon-raisin bagel?" and a guy telling someone on his cell phone about how waiting in line at the post office is "always a Kafka-esque experience". (He said this because someone was selecting postage stamps based on the pictures on them.)
12. The Empire State Building.
13. Purl Soho.
14. Whenever I visit, there are at least 3 or 4 other people I know from somewhere else doing so as well.
15. There are fewer sketchy motherfuckers there than in San Francisco. And the streets are cleaner. Really.

Here's a little movie Dana shot of me (kind of by accident) on the train. I would like to rotate it 90 degrees clockwise. And turn it into a gif that's a continuous loop cause it's only a few seconds long.

I've been rather prolific as far as knitting and other crafts lately so my next post should have some pictures of those things.

Almost time

for another post. It will be long and contain pictures of New York, Maryland, Philadelphia, and maybe New Jersey. And two new knit projects and the shoes I made over the weekend! I fly back to SF on May 21. And I actually get a ride all the way home after that so once I step off that bart train it'll be no more public transit! No ferry to Vallejo followed by long ass bus ride to Calistoga! No 3 hour bus to Santa Rosa followed by hour long short bus to Hopland! It will be such a relief not to haul around a bag or worry about stepping in a puddles (it sucks to travel in wet shoes). Some day I will travel in luxury.

Yes I'm still here

It's been so long since I've posted that I don't know how to get back into this, other than by sharing some nice, meaty, random, factoids about myself:

1. I own a vest that once belonged to James Hetfield from Metallica and a pair of pants once owned by Topper Headon, former drummer of the Clash. I have worn both garments numerous times and they are tiny. I'm guessing James never wore the vest [care to comment, Dana?] because it looks like it could barely fit his head. It appears to have been a gift from fans. The magic marker scrawl on the back, now barely discernable, read "To James from the German bangers!" Apparently Topper wore the pants when he had a huge drug habit around the time London Calling came out. (and I'm sure I'll never fit into them again. If you ever see me wearing them, an intervention is definitely in order. They are black denim with some kind of black rubberized reptile print and some rhinestones that make it uncomfortable to sit down) This is a photo of the person who gave them to me, taken by Helmut Newton.

JASSARA, Rue Aubriot, Paris, 1977

2. I have smoked cigarettes since I was in junior high school, but never enough to where I thought I needed to quit. Never first thing in the morning, never a pack a day. If I can smell a burnt butt I can't sleep, and I am repulsed by the smell of it on my clothing. I recently had the same pack for two months before finally throwing it away because the remaining few were completely stale.

3. I have been called beautiful, but am dismally unphotogenic at least 80% of the time.

4. I can't stand raisins, bananas, yogurt, cilantro, blueberries or shellfish of any kind.

5. I have tattooed at least 50 people including myself, all by hand (no machine).

6. I was very uncomfortable around dogs when I was a child. The ones I knew were either terrifying or crusty.

7. On April fool's day 10 years ago I shaved my head and was disappointed to discover that it isn't perfectly round. Ha ha.

8. I have four unfinished sweaters that I stopped knitting after completing the body and one half of one sleeve. I'm working on a fifth.

9. There are 1,000 origami cranes hanging from the ceiling in my bedroom.

10. I was on my school gymnastics team in 6th grade (1980). Our mascot was the penguin, and our ill-fitting uniforms were blue and green. The mascot has since been changed to the Titans or something macho like that.

Here are some pictures from my recent visit to SF. I finally finished Jeffrey Boyce's second sweater after months of cajoling. It was a huge pain in the butt because I was using something machine made with serged edges as a model. The round arm holes were the biggest challenge. I am also a little irked by Jeffrey's dad's interest in pimping my knitting services to his friends. He swears I could make "so much money". Hah.

Ocean Beach now has a whole section with really pretty sparkly black sand that smells kind of like petroleum. Dennis swears it's always been there but I don't believe him. He says it couldn't possibly be from the (56,000 gallon!) oil spill because "they" would never let people on the beach if that were the case. Anyway, this is my attempt at capturing it on film. I have absolutely no idea how to photograph anything black in daylight with a digital camera. I am not a fan of the damn things anyway (digital cameras, not black things). I'm convinced that they are why I look like crap in pictures now.

I got to stop by the only place I know of to buy my favorite preserved mandarin peel snacks. It's on Noriega and 22nd Avenue. The one in the black foil pack is the good one. The other things I decided to try, and they are not good.

This is the stump of the big tree they cut down on Sanchez Street, right outside my friend's house

I finally finished my first toe-up sock. I wonder how many months it will be before I have a pair.

Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of Lisa Anne Auerbach - my very first Ravelry friend to have met in person. She was cool. I'd like to meet her again.

#@$*%&!

If the finishing of a project takes longer than the knitting does, it is only acceptable if it's insanely cute. Case in point: these

are totally redonk. Does a baby (who is not born prematurely) ever have a foot this small? I sure hope so because what a pain in the ass.

Gung hay fat choy!

Today is Chinese new year, or the first day of the lunar year 4705. It is a year of the rat, which I believe is the first animal in the Chinese Zodiac. "Gung hay fat choy" does not actually mean "happy new year" in Chinese, but something more along the lines of "congratulations on your upcoming prosperity". The parade in San Francisco is on Saturday evening, February 23. It will be exciting and really loud. Too bad I won't be in town.

Today is also the birthday of Eddie Izzard! Eddie Izzard! Eddie Izzard! Ahem, sorry... And Chris Rock, and my dear old friends Jon Biller and Chris Whitney.

Apparently it's also International Men's Day (whatever that is) in Malta

before

I have no camera to take pictures of anything new with at the moment. I guess this is the perfect time to post all these old pictures that I love. See, before I figured out that I could knit, one of my outlets usually involved paint markers and an agreeable surface. Another was compiling lists. This particular project had both! It was a squishy (and icky) rubber skull, yellowing and cracking in areas the way an old rubber band does. I was at a friend's house and asked if they had something I could draw on and this was what I got. The list is the names of all the states in the U.S. that have a town called Springfield - for my friend with a Simpsons obsession. I think the pictures turned out really well... Enjoy!

bacon

I don't know how I never knew about this bacon wrap until now, given how much time I spend looking at fiber related blogs and what not. After looking at it my brain went GZZZT! and smoke started coming out. Words can't really describe how I feel about this, uh, garment. Let's just say that if I ever make it to Los Angeles I may just track down this Lady Linoleum and be her new best friend. I could even get over her using the phrase "for all intensive purposes". Ha ha.

Birthday bits and such

Just showing some new (birthday) yarn.

Ginger got me this hand dyed 50/50 merino/silk at Article Pract. It's actually more of a plummy color but the camera was sucking at the moment. Yay thanks, Ginger!

This is some Socks that Rock in "Socktopus" and "Count Cluckula". I don't remember what the name is of the tied dyed mess looking one in the middle. It's from a company I'd never seen before. They are laying on a bed of Misti Baby Alpaca Chunky.

I don't really know what else to write about because I've just been watching too much TV while house-sitting. Some things I can tell you are:

- Most commercials are worse than my worst nightmares, especially ones advertising weight loss programs and ones with "cute" children and acoustic guitar music.

- Ray Johnson and Chuck Close are both incredible artists and there's some new channel called Ovation that showed films about them both.

- I quite like Morgan Freeman but I think I'd rather get oral surgery than watch Jack Nicholson play his predictable self in the new sappy movie "The Bucket List". I also hate that title.

- Tony Sinclair is a putz.

Holy shit I almost forgot! Someone nominated my Noro striped afghan for a Bobby! It's for the "most colorful project" category. If you'd like to vote for me go to http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/the-bobbys/73503/1-25#19 and click "agree". You will need to be logged in to Ravelry to do so.

Oh hey! Hi!

It feels like it's been ages since I've posted anything here. I just haven't had it in me. Maybe this is normal for NaBloPoMo participants.

So I've made 3 trips to San Francisco within the last 5 weeks. One was sudden because one of my best friends died. She was a superhero named Lynette. Her death was untimely and accidental. It fucking sucks. I had the privilege of being by her side until she was cremated, thanks to my dear friend the mortician. I could go on about this, but I prefer not to.

I did manage to get my ass to a rock show on each trip:
- Old Grandad at the Cafe Du Nord on the night before Thanksgiving. Old friends. Super heavy. Great night. Excellent show. Exactly what I needed. Especially after I shoved the dumbass out of the way (nicely, of course) who was blocking my view and text messaging someone the entire time. These damn kids and their technology... grumble grumble...
- Hot Lunch at the Knockout. This is the new band of Aaron Nudelman, one of my old favorite neighborhood rockstars, formerly of Wig Torture, the Beach Girls, Mensclub, Sunless Day, and countless other projects. I only caught about 4 songs but it was great. I don't know where he found his bandmates, but they're well matched and he sounded just like I remember.
- Queens of the Stone Age at the Warfield. Love QOTSA. Hate the Warfield. It was the last night of about an eight month tour for them and I could tell they were a little tired, but it didn't affect their performance. Much. I'd love to see them every night because they have such a huge repertoire and I think they pull random surprises out of it on impulse, maybe even by request. I don't think they're one of these huge acts that does the same set all the time. I really just can't get enough of this band.

One of my new dog friends is Jake A.K.A. Jakie Pants, the geriatric chihuahua.

This sweet lil' dude keeps me company on the couch where I sleep at my friend's house in SF. I did my best to get a shot with no view of his huge balls and "button butt" (read slightly prolapsed rectum) because he really is super cute.

And I am still knitting.

This is a toe up sock using new techiques that I've been teaching myself. It Started as a 2-at-a-time magic loop thing, which I'd never done. Then I decided I didn't like that. I think I also prefer to use double point needles instead of circulars for most of the body. I had also never done the short row heel, and I think it's coming along nicely. I just hope I don't get so sick of this teal-brown ("Teal Party" from Claudia) colorway that I only finish one sock.

Also made these booties for Sacha, whom I still haven't met, and a bunch of hats.

I was flipping through the American Heritage dictionary yesterday (one of my absolute favorite books) and the "Ben Davis" entry caught my eye. " ?! ", I thought. Turns out it's an apple. Hmmm. Did my favorite designer of men's workwear know this? In case you're wondering, I was looking up Erasmus (1466-1536 Dutch theologian, scholar, humanist, and traveler). I was curious after seeing a movie in which some guy kept having hallucinations of him. I was also looking up the word dowdy (lacking in stylishness or neatness; shabby). And yes, if you must know, I'd been sucked into a "Project Runway" marathon. Thanks Abie!

WTF?: I decided to kill some time one evening in the shoe department of a Nordtron Rack store in SF and came across this ludicrous item:

I like Arizona green tea sometimes (especially the plum) but not in the form of some fugly high heel sneaker boot!

I almost forgot - here's a picture of one of my favorite things in Kelseyville.

It's the bubble machine from our Christmas parade of lights that we have every December. Sorry, the picture's kind of a joke. As you can see, I have not mastered the art of night time photography. I am getting a little better at photographing food. The light in our house is just so yellow. But look at that rigatoni!

Happy birthday Paige Cole!